thai chili beef.

While my parents were visiting over Easter weekend, we attended another fabulous cooking class at the Johnson & Wales campus in Providence. Growing up in southern Indiana, I wasn't exposed to many "ethnic" foods, but my world opened up when I went to Georgetown. My first dinner out in DC was at a Thai restaurant--and I've been in love ever since. When I saw the Tantalizing Thai class pop up on the J&W schedule, I knew we had to attend. The class was collaborative and we were randomly picked to do create one of the main dishes: Thai Chili Beef. The final product was ah-mazing, if I do say so myself.

Ingredients:

3 pounds of beef tenderloin - sliced into thin strips {less than 1/4 of an inch in thickness}

5 garlic cloves minced {if you aren't a huge fan of garlic, you can use less!}

2 tablespoons of salt

1 1/2 teaspoons of freshly ground pepper

3 tablespoons of fish sauce

3 tablespoons of oyster sauce {though the oyster sauce is optional!}

1 1/2 tablespoons of brown or palm sugar

1/2 cup of vegetable oil

5 Thai or jalapeño chiles {seeded and sliced}

3 red bell peppers {sliced very thin}

1 cup of cilantro sprigs

Preparation:

-Mix the beef with the garlic, salt, and pepper in a large bowl 

-Set aside this beef mixture to marinate for at least 15 minutes

-Mix together the fish sauce, oyster sauce and brown sugar in a small bowl to form a sauce and set aside

-Heat the oil over a high flame in a wok {or deep skillet}

-Add the chiles and red bell peppers then stir fry rapidly for about 30 seconds

-Add the marinated beef and stir fry quickly for 1-2 minutes {or until the beef is cooked through}

-Reduce heat to low, then add the sauce ingredients and toss to coat the beef

-Remove from heat and serve hot {with jasmine rice if you wish}

-Garnish with cilantro sprigs

**recipe adapted from the one presented in class**

This recipe should serve ten or so people, but I could have eaten the entire dish myself. We decided a little less oyster sauce than suggested would reduce the saltiness, but other than that, the recipe was a serious winner. It will definitely be added to the dinner rotation in our apartment!

What new dinner recipes have you discovered lately? Share them below, pretty please! xoxo {av}

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